Reyes Beverage Group has entered purchase agreements for the assets of Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) in 11 US markets.
The company has said the transaction will be its “largest acquisition to-date” but did not disclose financial terms.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Under the agreement, Reyes will take over RNDC’s operations in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington, DC.
In January, the company said it was in talks to purchase RNDC’s assets in six US states and Washington, DC, before widening the scope earlier this month to include five additional markets.
Illinois, part of the January talks, was excluded from the final deal.
Reyes said it will operate the acquired businesses separately from its own operations while bringing on new employees and suppliers.
Tom Day, CEO of Reyes, said: “As Reyes celebrates its 50th anniversary, this marks an exciting new chapter for our team. Our thanks to the RNDC team for their engagement throughout this process. We look forward to the opportunity to welcome new team members, supplier partners and customers in these markets.”
The parties expect to complete the transaction “as early as the end of May”, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
Marc Sachs, the president and CEO of RNDC, said: “We believe Reyes is the right distributor to lead in these markets. We are committed to working with the RBG team to ensure a smooth transition for our employees, suppliers and customers.”
The deal follows a series of changes to RNDC’s US network.
The company exited California last year after losing major contracts there, including Brown-Forman, which shifted its distribution in the state to Reyes.
Proximo Spirits also announced a shake-up of its US distribution network at the start of this year, moving away from RNDC “in all current territories, except for Georgia and New Mexico”.
Recently, Pernod Ricard also said it would move away from RNDC, appointing Reyes to distribute its “mainline” and ready-to-drink products in Maryland and Washington, DC. The deal is conditional on the closing of the planned acquisition of some of RNDC’s operations, Pernod said.
RNDC secured new funding from its lenders in January.
At the time, the alcoholic beverage distributor said the capital would “support” its operations as it “continues to align its organisational structure, operational capabilities, and portfolio focus to ensure executional excellence”.
